Couvent Sainte Claire
property details
for a Hub House Patronship co-operative coliving project

Environment ✧ wooded hills and the odd craggy river; hikes almost on doorstep

Services ✧ all

Access ✧ station 5mins walk: 1h30 Toulouse (last 8:45pm) and airport (+45mins bus/tram), 6h Barcelona, 7h Paris or night train

Dedicated units for full-time residence.

Area ✧ no need but several gardens 5mins walk for strolls
✦ indoor and outdoor tennis 10mins walk, also start of several short hiking circuits and longer climbing to the peak of the mountain at 1200m in 4h
✦ town center 10mins walk, though only a small square is passably attractive with a few bars and resturants
✦ 3 weekly markets
✦ 30mins walk to cool suspended wire bridge
✦ 75km greenway at door, and another 44km from Castres to Albi (less interesting but plausible daytrip, possibly oneway with pickup)
✦ mountain biking in the mountains (south) involves starting with a steep 200m climb, however on the otehr side of the river there's gentler climbs; easier biking starts 20mins away
✦ lake with beach 15mins drive (suitable for sup if boards purchased)
✦ 15 mins drive to some tricky unfrequented gorges suitable for clambering and swimming (when hot enough), other river swimming possibly 30mins easy bike
✦ riding 20mins drive
✦ 30mins drive to kayaking and more hikes

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Castres is a really nice town and is just 15mins by train (but 40mins including walks) with last impressively late at 10pm long evenings out possible
✦ Revel and Carcassonne are 50mins drive, and Albi 1h, all good to visit
✦ also at 1h are the gorges and river in a different environment

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the town had sometime ago some moderate improvements to its public spaces but has no notable plans to invest further beyond one remaing central area, and some (very tatty) roads and pavements, but likely only on the cheap due to making many cuts, however property tax has not risen in ten years, though likely will with the next mayor
✦ an interesting metric the town is tracking is new shops, which is going up

Property ✧ absurd yet good candidate for large scale project
✦ really an example because this is hardly the only one
✦ was suppoosedly due to be sold to an RE developer in 2021, they likely backed out
✦ would easily accommodate intergenerational cohousing alongside coliving, workspaces, events and even workshops/small scale artisans
✦ 12,000m2 plot, of which over 8,000m2 garden and several courtyards
✦ mostly usable and in decent condition (including, seemingly the roof), plus even has some nice new bits such as stairs, but minimally fitted out (obviously, nuns don't need too much), many windows would need replacing though are function and a reasonable number are PVC double-glaved
✦ only housed 16 nuns when they left in 2015
✦ highly plausible to refit bit by bit

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the climate here is not good for 6 months with lots of cloudy days, then again this might be desireable as other regions suffer under extreme heat; with lots of nice cosy spaces, some fires, well lits spaces, a sauna, gym, etc. it should be pretty nice, with the occasional sunny days being seized for outings
✦ a courtyard could be glassed over with lots of plants inside for a tropical style conservatory, the main courtyard is 200m2 so maybe a bit big but the heat retention and usable space might be worthwhile from such a large area; there's a smaller one of 90m2
✦ the property is entirely walled so no neighbours can peek at what's going on

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aquacentre 20mins walk with hamman and sauna, but this property is plenty big enough for its own, probably with indoor icy plunge pool